50 years later, remembering Wilkes Colonel Bobby McBride

Nov. 27—WILKES-BARRE — On Nov. 18, 1972, Bobby McBride led the Wilkes College Colonels on to the field for a game against King's Point.

While attempting to make a tackle from his secondary position, McBride suffered an injury that resulted in his death the following day.

McBride, a junior business administration major, was knocked unconscious while attempting a tackle in the third period. Efforts to revive him on the field were unsuccessful and he was taken to the Wilkes‐Barre General Hospital.

A three-year member of the Wilkes football team, McBride was a standout defensive back for the Colonels from 1970-72. He arrived at Wilkes after earning all-star honors for the Coughlin High School football team. He also was selected to play in the 1970 East/West UNICO All-Star Game.

McBride helped Wilkes post a 13-11-1 record during his three seasons, including a 6-2 mark in 1971. During that same span, the Colonels won five games by shutout, while holding opponents to six points or less on eight occasions.

The son of Robert J. and Theresa A. McBride, the spirit of Bobby McBride lives on at Wilkes. A wing at the Munson Fieldhouse has been named in his honor.

McBride was inducted into the Luzerne County Sports Hall of Fame.

A Times Leader feature written by Joe Petrucci in February of 2003, told McBride's story:

"It was the type of hit that defined previous generations of football.

"It was something out of the golden age of the gridiron, a vicious collision in the mold of Chuck Bednarik on Frank Gifford.

"This convergence of a halfback from the U.S. Merchant Marine Academy at Kings Point, N.Y., and a defensive back from Wilkes College in late autumn of 1972, however, defies nostalgic description because it turned out to be fatal.

"Bobby McBride, by all accounts, was a nice kid. One of five children (brothers Joseph and Michael, and sisters Colleen and Molly) of Mr. and Mrs. Robert McBride, he was quiet, the type that did his talking on the field when the ball was snapped.

"He was also good at baseball and had been a two-sport standout at Coughlin High School. He starred in the East-West UNICO All-Star game in the summer of 1970 before enrolling at Wilkes and settling on football. He was a business administration major.

"A Nov. 10, 1972 article in the Times Leader listed several Colonels among the leaders in Middle Atlantic Conference statistics and offered a preview of the following day's MAC finale against Delaware Valley. In it, McBride was described as a "hidden man in the Blue and Gold starting lineup."

"McBride, at a solidly built 6-foot tall and 175 pounds, had a 28-yard interception return to his credit and 'is well respected in the (defensive) backfield,' the paper said.

"Wilkes lost a close one, 20-18, in Doylestown, setting up its season finale against Kings Point, as the academy is known, a team Wilkes had never played in the 26-year history of the program. Both teams entered the game 4-4 and looking to end the 1972 season with a winning record.

"In 1972, football was considerably more dangerous statistically than it is today. Since 1931, 664 players at all levels of football had died due to injures suffered directly from the game, including 156 in the five years prior to '72, according to the National Center for Catastrophic Sport Injury Research — 69 college players had died since '31, including 15 in the five years prior to '72.

"Also, the center found that nearly 80 percent of all head or cervical spine injuries are suffered by defensive backs.

"On Saturday evening, McBride's family, Schmidt and close friends kept vigil at the intensive care unit of General Hospital. Those friends kept the rest of the student body at Wilkes aware of what was happening, and news of the seriousness of the injury made its way around campus.

"A memorial service was held for McBride two days after his death at Wilkes' Center for the Performing Arts. McBride was laid to rest at St. Mary's Cemetery, Hanover Township.

"Four years later, after 35 players died from injuries suffered on the football field in 1976, the NCAA and National Federation and State Association of Football Rules instituted a rule change that eliminated the head from being the initial contact point for tackling or hitting, or the "spearing" penalty. In the NFL, helmet-on-helmet hits not only draw penalties, but now often result in fines."

Reach Bill O'Boyle at 570-991-6118 or on Twitter @TLBillOBoyle.